beatlesfandomcom-20200225-history
John Lennon's jukebox
In 1989, John Lennon's jukebox surfaced in an auction of Beatles memorabilia at Christie's, and was sold for £2,500 ($4,907) to Bristol-based music promoter John Midwinter. Lennon had apparently bought the jukebox – specifically a Swiss KB Discomatic – in 1965, and filled it with forty singles to take with him on tour. Midwinter spent several years restoring the box and researching the discs catalogued in Lennon's spidery handwriting. When Midwinter developed cancer, and his health began to deteriorate, his desire to see the player featured in some kind of documentary became all the more important. The story finally reached its wider public in 2004, when The South Bank Show broadcast a documentary on the jukebox in which many of the represented artists, along with Sting, were asked to comment. Developed by Steve Jansen for the UK television production company Initial, headed by Malcolm Gerrie, the project took longer than was hoped to get picked up. This fact was rendered all the more poignant in that the show was commissioned mere days after Midwinter died. A compilation album was also released, containing thirty-four of the singles' A-sides and seven of their B-sides. XM Satellite Radio's "'60s On 6" channel featured Lennon's jukebox singles as an insight to the Beatle's personal taste in pop music and Mr. Midwinter's passion for the jukebox. Album The 2004 Compilation album named John Lennon's Jukebox contains several songs that are believed to be part of John Lennon's original choice. However the compilation album is labelled as "a collection inspired by music from his own collection" and some of the songs on the album are different versions from the ones that could have been included in the jukebox. The version of "Some Other Guy" by The Big Three, for instance, is not the one that was in the original jukebox but a mid-1970s recording by the same group. Disc one # "In the Midnight Hour" by Wilson Pickett # "Rescue Me" by Fontella Bass # "The Tracks of My Tears" by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles # "My Girl" by Otis Redding # "1-2-3" by Len Barry # "Hi-Heel Sneakers" by Tommy Tucker # "The Walk" by Jimmy McCracklin # "Gonna Send You Back to Georgia" by Timmy Shaw # "First I Look at the Purse" by The Contours # "New Orleans" by Gary U.S. Bonds # "Watch Your Step" by Bobby Parker # "Daddy Rollin' Stone" by Derek Martin # "Short Fat Fannie" by Larry Williams # "Long Tall Sally" by Little Richard # "Money (That's What I Want)" by Barrett Strong # "Hey! Baby" by Bruce Channel # "Positively 4th Street" by Bob Dylan # "Daydream" by The Lovin' Spoonful # "Turquoise" by Donovan # "Slippin' and Slidin'" by Buddy Holly Disc two # "Be-Bop-A-Lula" by Gene Vincent # "No Particular Place to Go" by Chuck Berry # "Steppin' Out" by Paul Revere & the Raiders # "Do You Believe in Magic" by The Lovin' Spoonful # "Some Other Guy" by The Big Three* # "Twist and Shout" by The Isley Brothers # "She Said, Yeah" by Larry Williams # "Brown Eyed Handsome Man" by Buddy Holly # "Slippin' and Slidin'" by Little Richard # "Quarter to Three" by Gary U.S. Bonds # "Ooh! My Soul" by Little Richard # "Woman Love" by Gene Vincent # "Shop Around" by The Miracles # "Bring It on Home to Me" by The Animals # "If You Gotta Make a Fool of Somebody" by James Ray with the Hutch Davie Orchestra # "What's So Good About Goodbye" by The Miracles # "Bad Boy" by Larry Williams # "Agent Double-O Soul" by Edwin Starr # "I've Been Good to You" by The Miracles # "Oh I Apologize" by Barrett Strong # "Who's Lovin' You" by The Miracles References *spencerleigh External links *A mini-site about the documentary from the PBS